1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to conveying controlling apparatus and method which control a conveying apparatus conveying an object, a program which is used to achieve the conveying controlling method, and a conveying system to which the conveying controlling apparatus and method are applicable. Incidentally, in the present application, it is assumed that “object”, “object container” and “container” which appear in what follows are equivalent.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a conveying apparatus which conveys an object is used in a recycling process, how to convey the object by the conveying apparatus is generally determined by recognizing the shape of the object and checking the recognized shape and a database with each other. Here, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-241141 discloses a 3D (three-dimensional) shape discriminating unit which checks a 3D shape measurement result with a database and thus selects a recycling procedure for a process object based on the checked result, and a recycling processing apparatus which uses the 3D shape discriminating unit.
Besides, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-022423 discloses a conveying robot operation speed/acceleration speed optimizing method by which an apparatus having a conveyance-object positioning mechanism automatically determines optimum operation speed/acceleration speed of a conveying robot.
For example, in a case where a container containing contents is the object to be processed in the recycling process, even if the same-shape objects are conveyed in an object conveying operation, it is necessary to change the conveying method according to the state of the object such as a state that the contents have been adhered outside a container, a state that the amount of the contents is small, or the like. For example, in a toner cartridge recycling process, when a toner cartridge containing a toner as its content is conveyed, it is necessary to actually convey the toner cartridge such that the contained toner is not diffused.
However, it is difficult to automatically change the conveying method according to the state of the object. Therefore, under the circumstances, an operator has to convey the objects while visually confirming the objects themselves.
Incidentally, in regard to the recycling processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-241141, any state of the object is not considered, and a worker actually scraps the objects. Besides, when the object is conveyed using the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-022423, there is a fear that the contents of the object are diffused.